


Rest Among the Flowers

by M34GS



Series: The Garden Grows Hungry [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged Up, Alternate Universe, Cannibalism, Death, Flowers, Gardening, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:08:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23302909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M34GS/pseuds/M34GS
Summary: Shouyou finds gardening relaxing. Especially after a not-so-relaxing interaction with his neighbour, Kei.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: The Garden Grows Hungry [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775848
Comments: 34
Kudos: 72





	Rest Among the Flowers

Gardening was relaxing. Shouyou always thought so. He loved the feel of the sun on his back, the breeze tickling him with his own hair across his neck, the feel of the earth on his fingers and the smell of the flowers he planted. He planted petunias, lilies, snap-dragons, bleeding-hearts, blue-bells, and he had a lovely clematis climbing the fence in the back.

Birds chirped in the trees as Shouyou hummed to himself. He plucked the dead heads from the flowers, keeping them presentable. He tugged and ripped weeds out of the soil. Weeds had no place in his garden. They choked the life out of everything around them, so they themselves needed to be choked out. And he would be the one doing the choking.

A shadow fell over him and Shouyou looked up to see light, fluffy clouds trailing in front of the sun. He smiled and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. His bright orange hair ruffled in the breeze. Shouyou rose to his full height, which was not very tall, and walked over to the veranda on the back of his home. He sat on the edge and sipped some water from his water bottle. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, enjoying the cool breeze drifting through his yard.

“Hey, Shouyou!” a voice called. Shouyou cracked his eyes open and tilted his head toward their neighbour’s yard. Tadashi was at the fence, smile on his face. His skin was slightly darkened, and his freckles stood out from being outside so often this summer.

Shouyou smiled back at him and faced him fully. “Hey Tadashi!” he greeted. “What are you up to?”

“I just got home. I was going to make supper with Kei, but I can’t find him. It’s weird, because his car is here, but he’s not,” Tadashi replied. His face fell a little and he sighed.

_Kei. Stupid Kei. Always calling me short. Always making fun of me. He thinks my gardening is silly and ‘girly’. He calls me a shrimp. Kei, with his stupid height and his dumb-looking glasses. He eggs on Tobio and then they get in a fight. Tobio always loses. Kei. That asshole. I was so relaxed I forgot about him._

Shouyou forced himself to maintain his smile. “Ah, that is weird.”

“Have you any idea where he went? Did you happen to see him go out?” Tadashi asked. “I saw you returned the containers you borrowed the last time you and I baked together, so I was wondering if he said anything to you…”

Shouyou tilted his head and thought. “No…he didn’t say anything about going anywhere. He called me short again, though,” he answered honestly. Tadashi winced.

“Ah, I’m sorry about that. I’ve told him again and again to be nicer to people.”

Shouyou shook his head. “No, don’t worry. I made sure he won’t call me that again.”

Tadashi raised his eyebrows. “Really? How’d you do that?” He looked impressed.

Shouyou shrugged. “Persuasion.” They both laughed. He stood. “Well. I’m going back to my garden.”

“Oh, have fun! It’s looking lovely, by the way. Do you do anything special? Mine never looks that vibrant, or alive,” Tadashi praised. Shouyou smirked at him.

“I’ve told you before, Tadashi. It’s a family secret.”

Tadashi frowned. “One of these days, I’m gonna get that secret out of you. Then we’ll both have amazing gardens!” Shouyou laughed.

“I’m not so sure you’d want to know it,” he answered with a grin. Tadashi rolled his eyes.

“Ok, Mr. Cryptic. See you later, Shouyou.”

Shouyou waved. “See ya.” Tadashi smiled as he turned and left the fence. Shouyou waited until he was back inside before crouching near his flowers again. “Did you hear that?” he whispered to them. “Tadashi thinks you’re all so beautiful. My precious little ones. You really are all so pretty.” He stroked the leaves of one of his lilies and smiled gently.

A buzzing near his elbow caught his attention and Shouyou looked down. He watched as a bee floated tranquilly around the petunias before picking one to crawl into. “Hey there, Mr. Bee,” Shouyou greeted it softly. “Hope you like my flowers. They’re pretty, yeah?” The bee, being a bee, did not answer. But it buzzed and bobbed from flower to flower, so Shouyou took that as a ‘yes’.

Shouyou continued to pull the rest of the weeds from the soil. He talked to the bee as he worked, telling it about each of his flowers and why he liked them.

“You know, the bleeding-heart plant, I like that one because the heart shapes of the flowers are so cute. And then they open up, like an actual heart bleeding, and it feels like a poem.”

The bee, again, did not respond, but Shouyou didn’t mind.

“And lilies are so elegant. The stems stand so tall, and the flowers themselves look graceful. I have a few different colours; pink, white, orange.” He paused and watched the little bee bumble around. “Do you have a favourite, Mr. Bee?” The bee hovered over the flowers, before settling inside an orange Tiger-lily. “Ah, Tiger-lilies. I like those ones too. The contrast of the black and the orange is so…gahh, I can’t find the words to describe it!” Shouyou turned back to the flower-bed and yanked out the last weed. He plunked it in the bucket next to him, along with all the other weeds and grinned. “All finished!” He stood, with his hands on his hips and surveyed his flowers. Pride swelled within him. He glanced up at the sky and then checked his watch. “Hmmm. Almost supper time. Tobio will be home soon.” He turned to his garden. “Are you guys hungry?” The flowers bobbed in the breeze, almost as if they were nodding. Shouyou grinned. “Alright, I’ll be right back.”

Humming, Shouyou picked up his bucket of weeds. He dumped them in the outdoor garbage, not wanting to risk them reappearing in his garden. Then he opened his large compost bin. He hummed thoughtfully as he surveyed the inside of the bin, noting the state of the latest addition. “Wow, Worms. You really like that new one, huh?” he murmured with a gentle smile as he greeted the earthworms in the bin. He scooped out compost they’d already broken down and put it in his bucket. As he was about to shut the lid, his eyes met Kei’s. Only his head was visible. The rest of his body, or what was left of it, was buried in the decomposing scraps. Shouyou stared into the glassy eyes of his neighbour and sighed. “Oh, come now. You know you deserved it. Really, I don’t know what you expected. Besides, it’s not like you’re stuck in here forever. Soon you’ll be a part of the garden too! Isn’t that exciting? You’ll get to be a part of the flowers.” Kei’s eyes stared back at him, unchanging. A fly landed on one eye and started crawling around on it. Shouyou shook his head. He reached in and shooed the fly out. “No, I don’t want maggots. I want earthworms. I like them much better,” he stated. Then he smiled. “Goodnight, Kei.” He closed the lid of the bin and picked up his bucket. He whistled as he brought the compost back to his flowers.

***

Tobio sighed as he pulled into the driveway. Work had been exhausting. He was relieved to be home. He climbed out of the car, his work bag slung over his shoulder, and entered the house. “I’m home,” he called out. There was no answer. _Shouyou must be in the yard,_ he thought. _I’ll get changed, then I’ll go and find him._ He took a sniff of the air as he walked down the hall. _Something smells really good._

Once he was in more comfortable clothes, Tobio wandered to the kitchen. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water. As he drank, his eyes drifted to the back yard, which he could see through their sliding patio doors. He couldn’t help but smile as he caught sight of Shouyou kneeling next to his flowers. His bright orange hair fit right in with the myriad of colours in his garden.

Tobio put down his glass and opened the sliding door to step out onto the veranda. Shouyou was talking excitedly in hushed tones. Tobio crossed his arms and shook his head fondly. His husband looked so cute next to his flowers. Arms still crossed, he approached Shouyou.

“Hey there,” he called softly when he was close enough. Shouyou stopped chattering and turned. His warm brown eyes lit up when they landed on Tobio.

“Tobio!” He jumped up. Tobio smirked.

“What are you up to? Talking to your flowers? People might start to think you’re crazy,” he murmured. He tried for a disapproving stare, but, unlike when they were in high school, he had a hard time mustering those around Shouyou. Shouyou grinned up at him.

“I _am_ crazy,” he replied with a mischievous glint to his eyes. “Crazy ‘bout you!” Tobio snorted fondly and rolled his eyes.

“Come here, you.” He stretched his arms out. Shouyou gave a joyous cry and launched himself at Tobio. Tobio stumbled back a step but managed to steady himself and wrapped his arms tightly around Shouyou. With a smile, he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Shouyou’s forehead. Shouyou giggled.

“How was your day, Tobio?” he asked. Tobio grimaced.

“Work was long. And awful. How was yours?”

Shouyou shrugged, still maintaining his hold on his husband. “Not too bad.” He paused and glanced back at his flowers. “I got more food for my little ones,” he added finally.

Tobio raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Shouyou nodded. “Yeah. Kei gave it to me.”

“Did he?”

“Yup!” Shouyou turned his face back to Tobio’s and smiled. “He also decided to help us out. Seeing as meat is so expensive, he gave us some he had, for our soup tonight.” Tobio smiled back.

“Ah. That’s nice of him.” A low growl emanated from his stomach. They both looked down, then back at each other. “Speaking of soup, is it ready, then?”

Shouyou smiled and nodded. “I’ve had it in the slow-cooker since about noon! It should be finished.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah. Let’s go wash up. Then we can eat.” Shouyou broke out of Tobio’s hold and led him by his hand to the door.

“Sounds good,” Tobio agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this fic.


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